Rarely does a week go by without another story of an attack on a bus driver.

And in one city district, they have clearly had enough of being the pedestrian’s punchbag.

Bus operator Arriva has, over the past two years, trained 76 drivers in Østerbro in the Japanese martial art of aikido to help them avoid violent situations and threats.

Disciplined drivers
“The primary reason is to give drivers the tools to resolve situations with both their honour and health intact,” René Frylund, the head of operationsfor Arriva Denmark, told DR.

However, Frylund maintained that the bus drivers will remain disciplined and are not going to suddenly start lashing out at customers who annoy them.

BustedIn an interview with Maxim magazine, controversial photographer Mathilde Grafström revealed she has reported Movia to the police for running ads for silicon breasts last year on its buses. Grafström is outraged the police prevented her from exhibiting ‘Female Beauty’, a series of photos of nude women, at Nytorv in December.

Convention capitalCopenhagen can look forward to a bumper convention year in which 100,000 guests are expected to spend 1.2 billion kroner in the capital. Their average spend of 3,000 kroner each per day is the equivalent of creating 2,200 additional jobs.

Bomb hoaxers guiltyThe two Greek tourists, 33 and 65, who claimed they had a bomb at Copenhagen Airport on November 18, have returned to their homeland after being found guilty of causing ‘groundless alarm’. Imprisoned for a month before the trial, the men were handed two-month suspended sentences (plus one served) and banned from entering Denmark for six years.

New Year’s affrayA 61-year-old man has been remanded in custody for four weeks and charged with attempted murder after an assault on his 46-year-old girlfriend in an apartment in Sydhavn on New Year’s Day. He allegedly used a knife and a blunt instrument.

So long Grumpy!Prince Henrik, ‘the world’s grumpiest royal’ according to English newspaper the Daily Mail, will hang up his crown this year. The queen, in her New Year’s Eve speech (see page 5), announced that her prince consort wanted to take things easy and would be retiring after 40 years of service. “I understand and respect his decision,” the queen said.